So the bottom line of this article was to say that people who work god damn hard to earn their money will fight to hell and back to protect it from grabby hands that don't know when enough is enough?

Gee, who would of thought!

9:53 am March 22, 2012

Georgio wrote :

Really? We really wouldn't see the same level of avoidance in the US. Do you think Americans are stupid and they would not use every single tool available to them to avoid higher taxes??????

3:40 pm March 22, 2012

Lisnyk wrote :

Tax "optimization" was applied as soon as necessary, what a surprise.

"But Britain seems to provide support for arguments by Arthur Laffer and others that when you try to tax the rich above a certain rate, they will do all they can to avoid it." - and what that RATE would be? "Zero"?

4:20 pm March 22, 2012

svann wrote :

"A study found that £16 billion of income was deliberately shifted into the previous tax year"

Yea but you can only get away with that so many times (once).

4:21 pm March 22, 2012

svann wrote :

"A study found that £16 billion of income was deliberately shifted into the previous tax year"

Yea but how many times can you get away with that? (once)

11:23 pm March 22, 2012

Biased Opinion wrote :

There are so few individuals making that income level, that the auditing bodies could move to a 100% audit policy and turn a profit by hiring additional inspectors full time. Seems like a no-brainer to me, if the stakes are low for the poor, why audit them? Then you crank up the fines for all the conspirators involved and weed out corruption, yet another plus.

On second thought, never mind, just lower the taxes and let the Madoff's of the world run wild.

11:45 pm March 22, 2012

David S Lesperance wrote :

If an individual Golden Goose feels that the tax burden is unfair, they will take all legal means to reduce that tax burden. There is no surprise here and no national bias for one countries' taxpayers to do it rather than another. The Golden Goose will only consider whether THEY feel is it unfair. They do not give a thought to whether politicians, Occupy Wall Street protestors or TV talking heads think their burden is justified.

Hiring additional auditors (Biased Opinion's suggestion) is a waste of taxpayer dollars if what they did was within the law. An audit is only useful if there is illegal activity to uncover. As for next year's solution, it will be to hire legal advisors like me to legally leave behind their taxpayer status in that country.

The real unanswered question to consider is what is the "breaking point" for a Golden Goose to overcome their "life inertia" and leave the tax system permanently. The problem is that when you have a system (like those of the UK or US) which is dangerously reliant on a small number of taxpayers (top 1% contribute over 40% of total individual tax revenue), you only need a small number of Golden Geese to leave before you have a dramatic drop in your collected current and future tax revenues.

1:19 pm March 23, 2012

Adam wrote :

"Yea but how many times can you get away with that? (once)"
Yes, because that's the only tax avoidance trick available. More like, that was easiest one to pull off quickly and that saved the most. They'll resort to other ones that take more planning in future years.

4:34 pm March 23, 2012

TiredOfFlippingTheBill wrote :

You only have to change your strategy once. After you take care of the problem, it is no longer a problem. We get audited every year, we never do anything wrong. You have to be morehonest.

No financial person will break the law for you and risk their livelihood. You have to be completely above board on your taxes

6:54 pm March 23, 2012

Investor Junkie wrote :

@TOFTB: You get audited every year? Seriously? That's pathetic if true, not on your part, the IRS. Isn't insanity defined as doing the same thing and expecting a different result. There has to be a reason for harassing you every year.

3:02 am March 24, 2012

TiredOfFlippingTheBill wrote :

We have been audited every year for the last five years. We never owe any taxes, but I get to pay our accountant extra to correct the IRS. The spend is deductable, but you only get back your tax rate. I was told by the IRS, that it is because of our return - type of income and amounts donated to charities.

6:05 am March 24, 2012

TiredOfFlippingTheBill wrote :

Robert - there was a blog topic about the IRS having a super taskforce created to go after the wealthy - do you know how successful they have been? I looked, but was unsuccessful finding any information about their success or failure. (I know it was a success, because the IRS never fails) . :-)

4:13 am March 26, 2012

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4:15 am March 26, 2012

sac hermes pas cher wrote :

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12:54 pm March 26, 2012

PDXLager wrote :

First, Arthur Laffer is a fool. Second, people are already doing all they can to avoid taxes. Shifting income into the more favorable tax year is a common strategy, it sounds like the UK was simply surprised at the amount that could be moved and didn't take that into account when estimated revenue.

Economics isn't an exact science, otherwise Laffer would have to explain why things were so much better for our economy and budget (debt and deficit) with the higher tax rates under Bush/Clinton vs. the record low tax rates we have had in the 2000s under Bush/Obama. OOOPS.

2:49 pm March 27, 2012

TiredOfFlippingTheBill wrote :

@ 12:54 -- We had the Tech Bubble at the end of the Clinton years. It started crashing in 2000, and went free fall right after Bush took over. If you don't blame Clinton for this one, then you cannot blame Bush for 2009.

10:28 am March 29, 2012

Nick Simpson, G4i Capital Partners wrote :

Speaking as an ex-pat it serves the UK govt. right, if a guy works so hard that he/ she achieves $225K ,per year
then I would imagine being so driven they will do their utmost to avoid tax. I agree with raising tax allowances for the lower paid but don't subsidize the couch potatoes.

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About The Wealth Report

The Wealth Report is a daily blog focused on the culture and economy of the wealthy. It is written by Robert Frank, a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the newly released book “THE HIGH-BETA RICH.”

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